Free State conservatives may have experienced a miserable election night with the victory of Barack Obama and Democratic pickups in the House and Senate. But they should take comfort from one development in Maryland: voters have made clear their intolerance for new taxes.
The most obvious sign is the wild success of the slots referendum. The pundits predicted a close contest. So of course, preliminary totals show the referendum passing by 58.6-41.4%, a margin of 17.3 points. But that number conceals the staggering totality of the sweep. Fourteen of Maryland’s twenty-four jurisdictions recorded 20-point-plus pro-slots margins. And what of the five jurisdictions (Baltimore City, Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester) that will actually receive a casino? They recorded a combined 59.2-40.8% vote for slots, a margin of 18.4 points.
The most overused line by politicians during this campaign has been, “I’m not a fan of slots.” Of course not. Few people are. But few voters are fans of taxes either. And slots proponents won because voters believed their core argument: slots are preferable to taxes. The regressive nature of the 2007 special session tax package undoubtedly brought that point home to a very large number of Marylanders.
Anti-tax sentiment extended even into the state’s bluest Democratic strongholds. Prince George’s County is infamous for its underachieving schools. Yet, voters rejected a mere $17 million tax hike targeted for the schools by a 71-29% margin. And Montgomery County, perhaps the most liberal place in the state, is on the verge of approving Robin Ficker’s anti-tax charter amendment.
All of this leads me to recall the considerable number of liberal politicians who have suggested an alcohol tax increase. Their argument begins with the fact that liquor taxes in Maryland are relatively low. And since everyone knows that low taxes are bad, basic common sense dictates that this tax be raised. Forget about the fact that few Bud-drinking people I know would agree with this philosophy. The truth is that we are entering a recession. Bad times warrant a comforting nip (or two) from the bottle. I would ask these politicians if they really want to tax my unemployed union members into involuntary sobriety. If they try, they may find how creative a construction worker with a two-by-four can really be.
Given the above developments, there is no safe place for a tax-hiking politician to hide in the Free State right about now. Not in Kingsville, Kettering, Kensington or the Kentlands. My advice to our political friends is to tolerate the spending cuts, keep your heads down and check back in with us after the next election.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
The Great Maryland Tax Revolt
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3 comments:
Perhaps nobody in PG County really believed that the $17 million in new taxes was "for the schools." After all, the school board recently voted, over the outgoing superintendent's objections, to spend $36 million on new administrative offices.
And the last time the suckers in the electorate voted for a tax increase for the schools, the pols (all Democrats) gave the schools the new money and took away an equal amount of old money for something else.
That shell game happened so many times that the voters passed TRIM. But the pols never seem to give up trying.
Adam P wrote:
I would ask these politicians if they really want to tax my unemployed union members into involuntary sobriety. If they try, they may find how creative a construction worker with a two-by-four can really be.
*blows kiss*
Adam, these guys think they have us fooled, and since we continue to elect them, they're obviously right. By "we", of course, I don't include myself; I ran against them.
BTW considering the massive offshoring of the IT industry, especially when the State taxed IT services for the first time, they ought to be more concerned about how creative system engineers can be.
Maybe they should be even more concerned about the creativity that could result if a professional organizer, a systems engineer, and some really outraged unemployed US-citizen union construction workers can be, in terms of leading a lot of villagers with flaming pitchforks headfirst into a massive tax revolt best summarized with the phrase "leave no incumbent seated".
Considering that the MoCo Liquor Monopoly evidently only ever hires from the Pre-Release mental-health programs division, the service is already somewhere between "unprovoked violence is our cheerful minimum standard" and "rumormongering and incitement to riot is the new professionalism here", adding insult to injury by raising taxes there will add a new level of meaning to the verb "to foment".
And don't get me started on the freakshows in all of the non-county beer stores which are generally referred to as either "video keno addict lounges" or "preferred operations venue for gangsters and foreign intelligence".
Heck, why don't you take a whack at that, after suitable investigation, of course. I had a fantastically enlightening time at the one next to the Seizure World Giant Food last spring and early summer. Probably they've moved on form that one, but this sort of thing probably wants to move closer to downtown in any case, probably to your neighborhood.
Mr. Hardman said:
"I had a fantastically enlightening time at the one next to the Seizure World Giant Food"
... really, someone who ran for office and may run again, saying something like that? Shame on you! I know that's the banter among a few of the responders who provide service to the community, but it's really not appropriate to say. MCFRS has cautioned its employees and volunteers not to use that terminology.
Okay, call me "PC", but I have many family and friends who live in Leisure World, for whom I care and tend to their needs often. Some are disabled, some have medical conditions requiring frequent attention. One whom I love dearly is developing a condition that could, indeed, cause seizures. Your callous remarks hit very close-to-home.
If someone running for office says something like this in a public place (such as a blog comment), it really causes me to wonder what he's really like.
Apologize, Mr. Hardman. Your cruel reference has been duly noted.
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